The Los Angeles Clippers will look much different this upcoming season as Kawhi Leonard will not be in the lineup for the first time since 2019. 

The team traded Kawhi to the Toronto Raptors, officially turning a new page on the franchise. 

The Clippers will bring in a much younger squad next season with Darius Garland, Keaton Wagler, Rui Hachimura, and Brandon Ingram all going through their first Clippers training camp together. 

Bennedict Mathurin is also a restricted free agent who needs to be re-signed, though it seems as if the expectation is that they will be able to keep him after making the move to acquire him from the Indiana Pacers at the 2025 trade deadline. 

According to Jake Fischer and Marc Stein in the Stein Line newsletter, the Clippers are still exploring ways to potentially add Peyton Watson, who is a restricted free agent with the Denver Nuggets. 

“We're still being told that the Clippers are not ruling themselves out of the sign-and-trade chase for Denver's Peyton Watson even after signing Rui Hachimura to a two-year, $28 million deal. They would need to assemble a sign-and-trade to acquire Watson and overcome Denver's behind-the-scenes insistence that it will match any offer sheet for Watson," they wrote.

A sign-and-trade for Watson could involve giving up Mathurin as the Clippers don't have the outright cap space to absorb what will likely be close to $30 million per year for Watson, on top of re-signing Mathurin, unless they get very creative. 

The Clippers also don't have trade leverage since Watson is a restricted free agent, and Denver can match any outright contract offer, unless Watson makes it clear that he doesn't want to play for Denver, and they would be shooting themselves in the foot if they matched an offer. 

He would fit their new youth movement, but the team is short on frontcourt options, and Watson is another wing player. 

It's never a crime to assemble as much talent as possible, and Watson showed great improvement with Denver last season, averaging 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists while shooting 49% from the field and 41% from three. He's also a rangy defender who will likely take the task of guarding the top perimeter option on the other team. 

If they are able to keep Mathurin, they'd likely send out Derrick Jones Jr, Kris Dunn, and draft compensation at the very least. 

Their starting lineup would be Darius Garland, Watson, Brandon Ingram, Rui Hachimura, and Brook Lopez with Keaton Wagler and Mathurin as the top two bench options.